STS-107 Re-entry live NASA TV coverage of the Columbia accident

This is the live NASA Television broadcast with commentary of the ill-fated re-entry and destruction of space shuttle Columbia which killed the seven astronauts on board 16 minutes before landing on February 1, 2003.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• STS-107
• sts107
• re-entry
• landing
• reentry
• Columbia
• space
• shuttle
• accident
• tragedy
• explosion
• astronauts
• spaceflight
• exploration

[battersby255]

Whether you are pro or anti American, this was a very sad day for humanity.

[katiush65]

weird how the disaster happened in seconds, but it's like slow motion to realize what is going on... everybody waiting & waiting for the communication to be reestablished

[unoakaso]

00:55 "Roger uh,bu-" is the last communication from the crew, something like 30 seconds after that the shuttle was destroyed

[cxoswingdriver1]

@roamingcroat You're exactly right....my apologies. I don't know what I was thinking....they were only five years into the shuttle program, and 50 would be way too high a number of missions to have flown up to that point, although they were hoping to launch about ten flights a year before the accident. Thanks for the correction on that.

[roamingcroat]

@cxoswingdriver1 "Challenger was the 51st"

Challenger was the 25th, actually. They messed with the numbering system after STS-9. Chellenger's last mission, 51-L meant it was scheduled for the 1985 fiscal year (5) launching from Kennedy Space Center (1) and it was the 12th mission scheduled for that year (L). It was bizarre, so they went back to the straight up numbering for the return to flight mission after the Challenger disaster.

[cxoswingdriver1]

This is reminescent of the final moments of the Apollo 13 mission, during which flight controllers were unsure about the fate of the capsule as they waited for the re-entry blackout period to pass. That one ended happily with communications being regained just before splashdown. No such happy ending here. At one point, scientists gave the shuttle program a failure rate of one in 50 missions. Challenger was the 51st, Columbia the 107th.  Atlantis, the last, is 135th w/ touchdown due tomorrow.

[HungryGreeny]

@battersby255 C'mon thousands of people die everyday and no one give a shit, why people should be so hypocrite in this case?

[kittypie070]

we're all in a funk

[JonnieGraham]

a poo day



[chrissyspoor21]

@battersby255 A very very sad day!